Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Pours clear dark brown with loads of small carbonation bubbles, rich slightly off-white head that slowly dissipates, patchy lacing. Aroma is bready malt, caramel. Although pleasant, the aroma is very weak.

Taste is toasty malt, bits of spice, with dryish finish. Aftertaste seems like of a combination of roasted malt bitterness and tannins. Mouthfeel is light with moderate carbonation.

Overall, quite ok brew, but that bitterness in flavour seems to be too harsh. (467 characters)

The flavor is very watered-down for an Alt. Some toffeeish, toasted malt flavor, but not much. Finish is dry and bitter, with a touch of lingering metallic character. The mouthfeel has fine carbonation, and there's nothing wrong with it.

Oettinger makes cheap, average beer, and this Alt is no different. (504 characters)

Bought a cheese today aged on Albier, and unfortunatley Oettinger was the only brewery representing the style I could find at the store, gotta go seek out the Uerige tommorrow. I say unfortunate, only because this is the cheap beer in Germany, despite being the biggest seller, they make rather mediocre products-I have yet to be impressed(and not have a headache and "cheep beer S***s after drinking their beer).Poured into my Reissdorf stange, nice tobacco brown color, medium brown. Hint of ruby-whisky maltiness in the body. Light brown head, highly active, and bubbly, but sticks around for quite a while. Already a significant inprovement over it's neighbor Kolsch. Smells actually quite good, havent had the best of em' to be fair, but-malt, rustic bauern bread, a hint of acidic sourness, light bread background, and the really nice mustiness brings it all together. Overall however, a bit watery, but I know this style isn't brewed to be a beast. Good aromatics Onto flavor, picks up quite a bit of steam here. Spicy rum, bread, musty grain, light raisin/dark fruits, fermenting grapes, a cellar-like keller beer yeastiness is appreciated. Finishes lightly tart, a slightly sour apple cider vinegar twang that is quite nice. Subsequent sips reveal further plum, raisin, accented by port-wine and rum. A light beer, but a suprisingly deep, spicy brew. Drinkablility is one of the strongest aspects of this beer. One thing I do appreciate about the old-school German brews, a massive amount of flavor can be achieved, packing sip after sip with a depth of alcoholic spiciness, bready sturdiness, finishing with the spike of tart alcoholic fruit-all in a package containing the same ABV as a Bud Light.--

I really like the history of these more Rustic German brews, i.e, Kellerbier, Zwickel, Altbier, and I find each I try continually more complex and intriguing. I look foward to experimenting with these styles and developing them more for myself in the future.

Anyway BY FAR the best beer I've had from Oettinger, and I've had them all. If this is the supposed bottom of the barrel, guess Im making a trip up to Düsseldorf next week for a Uerige visit!-Can't wait to have Southampton's offering when I'm back stateside. (2,236 characters)

A: Pours a dark copper with an off-white 2-finger head. The lacing is sporadic, etching thick in places.

S: Smells of old fruit, slightly sour with just a hint of spice.

M: Mouthfeel was a bit flat; not watery, just a hint of carbonation.

T: The initial taste is sour, like old grapes. This gives way to a yeasty, almost tannic midrange. The hops are dull and appear quite near the end, and then only for a moment before they fade to a smoked aftertaste. The tannins make for a very dry, almost tea-like feeling after this beer is finished.

D: Overall, an easy-to-drink beer, nothing outstanding at all, just a solid brew that shows it's cards within the first few sips. (707 characters)

This beer poured a nice dark, clear copper with a good amount of tan head. The aroma was very light, I was barely able to pick out traces of malt and spice in the scent. The flavor of this brew did a good job of making up for the lack of nose. A sweet scent is prevalent throughout, with a hint of spice. Earthy hop notes towards the end are complimented by a slightly smokey aftertaste.

In closing, I found this to be a very drinkable, medium bodied beer. (458 characters)

Nose is very pungent, lots of aromatic fruit with intense peppery spice and soil characters. Smells quite dry and dusty. Interesting, but not sure I like it.

Taste is interesting again - but it nullifies a lot of the nose's intensity. Or pacifies, at least. Dry sultanas on the front palate with a long dry dusty consistency. Long palate without much complexity is how I would describe it, and that's definitely a shame. The nose promised a very intense flavour and although I'm not sure I'd like the flavours promised, this is a bit weak and disappointing. Could be better, and really isn't all that tasty.

Mouthfeel is quite smooth; but this just adds to its blandness. Certainly not unpleasant, but it's just a bit blah. (908 characters)

Got this bottle at the fantastic Archer Road Beer Shop in Sheffield. As it had passed the expiry date (19/09/2007) when I purchased it, the friendly owner kindly axed the price from 1.99 to 1.29 pounds for me. Served slightly chilled in a pint-size weizen glass.

A: pours a dark amber hue with chestnut-brown glows, coming with a very tight and rocky light-beige froth and abundant fizziness.S: a dusty note typical of a quality lager approaches first, backed by smooth caramelised nuts, brown-sugary malts, sweet lemony fruits, and a faint touch of caramelised apple-slices. It lacks a balance on the nose and gears towards the sweet side.T: a crispy, neutral, zesty-sour flavour of citrus fruits and very light amber malts enters the palate upfront, ensued by a very mild tea-ish and slightly tannic-dry aftertaste from dried hops and semi-roasted malts. Clean and dry-ish finish, with a wee bit of hop bitterness wandering aimlessly in the end.M&D: the mouthfeel is consistently spritzy (albeit soft in fizziness) and the body remains feather light throughout, making this a refreshing drink almost like a less malty and also drier Vienna lager; alas, the lack of a drier palate and also more pronounced maltiness renders it a somewhat weaker and yet fruitier example of the style: rather lacklustre overall. (1,315 characters)

Gebraut in Monchengladbach
Light brown beer with a copper hue. Big froathy cream colored head left some nice strands of lace. Biscuit malt is dominates the aroma with a slight metallic undertone. Crisp malty beer. A bit of cocoa and some biscuits. Finish is just slightly bitter. Moderately light body is somewhere between crisp and fluffy. Not too shabby. Cocoa reminds me of a British brown ale, and there isn't as much hop bite as I'd like. Similar to Otter Creek's Copper Ale, but not quite as harsh. I might be interested in a few more; I can't quite decide. (564 characters)

500 ml bottle, bought in Germany. Brewed in the Oettinger Group's brewery in Mönchengladbach (one of their 5 working German breweries). Clear brown colour, large creamy offwhite head. Moderate malty aroma with notes of caramel, hints of berries. One-dimensional malty flavour with moderate hops, mouthfeel is a bit dusty and metallic. Not a great altbier, but drinkable. (371 characters)